Published: Wednesday, 27th August, 2008 9:00am

Borders hospital review ordered

by Ally McGilvray

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Cleanliness of local hospitals put under microscope

HEALTH chiefs are reviewing the cleaning of hospitals in the Borders following a complaint about the care of a patient who later died.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, which deals with complaints about the National Health Service, ordered the audit.

It confirmed it was upholding a complaint from the patient"s wife in a report published this week.

The woman, known only as Mrs C, complained about the level of nursing care that her late husband, Mr C, received in hospital - which has not been named to protect their identity.

She described incidents where she said that he was injured or the care provided was insufficient. And she also raised concerns about the cleaning regime in the ward.

Professor Alice Brown, ombudsman, said: 'I found that the board had taken Mrs C"s complaints seriously, had identified what happened and explained as much as they could to her for each of the issues about which she had complained. They also apologised appropriately to Mrs C for the failings in Mr C"s care.

'They had not, however, said that they were taking action to minimise the chances of similar incidents for other patients, which caused Mrs C further concern.

'Because of that, I upheld the complaint and made five recommendations to the board in respect of future actions.

'These included an audit of the hospital cleaning regime and actions in respect of record-keeping and compliance with the administration of medicines policy.'

And she added: 'I also recommended that the board share my report with the senior charge nurse of the ward concerned to consider whether any additional education or development is required.'